The Book of Concord or Concordia, the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, is published, 1580

Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy, from the University of Padua, 1678

Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Hungary, 1741

Lucien B. Smith of Ohio patents the first version of barbed wire, 1867

Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, 1876

Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated the first President of Ireland, 1938

The Diary of Anne Frank is published, 1947

The Berlin airlift begins, 1948

The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea, 1950

CBS broadcasts the first color television signal, 1951

First live global satellite television programme – Our World, 1967

Mozambique achieves independence, 1975

Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington, 1981

Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia, 1991

Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada, 1993

An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir, 1997

The Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat erupts resulting in the death of 19 people, 1997

The Harvard School of Health Study concludes that since 1980 the number of adults with diabetes has doubled, 2011

A portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protects minority voting rights, is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling that Congress has not taken into account the nation's racial progress when singling out certain states for federal oversight, 2013